It seems as if Destination Kohler hasn’t done much by the proverbial book over the years, so why start now?
The resort’s creative juices date back to architect Pete Dye and owner Herb Kohler concocting an idea to create an Irish-type landscape on what was once a flat U.S. Army anti-aircraft training facility, moving 3 million cubic yards of dirt in the process.
The result was the twists-and-turns of award-winning Whistling Straits golf course, with its 77.2 rating, diabolical 152 slope rating and impish “God of the Wind” logo figure.
Soon, the resort along the shores of majestic Lake Michigan was hosting multiple PGA Championships, and then the 2021 Ryder Cup, showcasing Wisconsin’s natural beauty and local brews — and Kohler as one of the Midwest’s top resort destinations.
The book has been thrown out the window again in 2025 as Kohler recently announced the ground-breaking of a new 14-hole course.
“Why not 14 holes?’’ says Dirk Willis, the resort’s Vice President of Golf, Landscape & Retail, when asked about the break from a traditional 18-hole course. “We’ve always tried to be a little unconventional with things and we’ve been thinking about this sort of abbreviated experience for awhile. These types of things are becoming more in vogue because of a time factor more than anything.
“And it really was about taking the best features of that piece of land and putting an experience in there that made sense, and not diminishing it by trying to wedge in 18 holes.”
The name Purebred Farm harkens back to the days when the land was used as a beef cattle farm.
“This piece of land specifically kind of tailors itself to a unique experience with unique aesthetics attached to it,” Willis says. “And from a quality standpoint, it’ll be on the same level of architectural quality as Whistling Straits.”
Willis admits that if Dye and Kohler were still alive that the Dye design flair would have been executed again. However, Dye passed away in 2020 and Kohler two years later, which prompted Willis and current Kohler CEO David Kohler to embark on an intensive search for an architect, interviewing numerous designers for the unique 14-hole layout before settling on the Chattanooga, Tennessee, firm King Collins Dormer Golf Course Design (KCD).
“We do probably have a little bit of a reputation for pushing the envelope, and we have certainly done that,” says Rob Collins, the lead architect on the project for KCD Golf. “But each property asks you a question or a series of questions and then it’s our job to answer those questions.”
“David (Kohler) and I discussed going with someone that was sort of in that peak design lineage or going a different direction,” Willis says. “I knew that KCD Golf was on this cutting edge of creative, innovative design experiences, so I threw that out as an option.”
Willis says the KCD team came to Wisconsin to meet with Kohler and his wife Nina on the project and the group hit it off.
“They just clicked and off it went,” Willis says of the meeting. “I kind of liken them to Pete Dye in the early to mid-1970s when he was coming up. He was sort of this renegade that was kind of breaking all the rules or taking the rules and bending them, and pushing the envelope. And that’s why we chose KCD.”
Willis says the property under development will give Kohler resort guests and golf travelers two 18-hole layouts, a 10-hole par-3 course, and a 14-hole layout to fit into their schedules — all with different looks, feels and lengths.
Collins says Purebred Farm sits on 47 acres and expects to measure around 5,000 yards, and will be “loaded up with reachable par-fives and drivable par-fours.”
“And it’s a really beautiful piece of rolling terrain that is soft underfoot, easy to walk, but in its natural state has terrific golfing contours,” he says. “Our charge here is to build very much of a kind of found golf course, so there’s not going to be a lot of shaping in the fairways.”
“And it will have that same level of detail, but with a very different aesthetic than anything else that we have,” Willis adds. “It will feel like a golf course that is over 100 years old that sits on a piece of land that has some farmland, river ridges, pines and hardwood forests. It’s going to be a pretty unique palette compared to the rest of our golf courses.”
Collins says golf course design has shifted to more unconventional experiences since the onset of a bevy of high-end par-3 layouts, so-called “short courses” and increased post-COVID-19 travel.
“There certainly has been a tidal wave of acceptance of different types of golf and being able to enjoy golf in different formats,” Collins says. “I believe that will help this new Kohler course work out by giving it a unique 14-hole national presentation.”
With a location near Green Bay and Milwaukee, the Kohler golf season is now over, but opening day 2026 is around St. Partick’s Day. However, Willis says the resort has worked hard over the years to offer travelers a reason to come to central Wisconsin year round.
Along with the Purebred Farm project, Willis says Kohler is constructing a major racquet sports complex called The Serve, which will feature six indoor pickleball courts, an elevated social longue and much more.
“Being a quote-unquote seasonal resort has its challenges, and we’re trying to take away that seasonality as much as possible,” Willis says. “We understand that golf is what we’ve built a reputation around, but we have all these other great experiences, with our spas and our wellness and culinary businesses helping sort of curb the seasonality.
“If you look at our long-term strategy for our overall expansion, golf is just one part of that puzzle, and The Serve is just one part of that winter puzzle. Hopefully with this facility, we can attract some national events that will bring regular attention to the resort for racket sports.”
The Serve is expected to be completed by Summer 2026, with Purebred Farm scheduled to open sometime in 2027.
“We certainly are more diverse in our offerings throughout the year than we ever have been in the past,” Willis says.
Starting in 2018, Kohler began seeing an upward trend in travel to its resort, and then “COVID hit and it has just gone through the roof,” Willis says. “And I don’t see any real threat of a slowdown in our market. I’m sure the rest of our competition is probably saying the same thing. So it really becomes very important for us to be really strategic and continue to expand and innovate. And like I said, we’re not just doing that in golf. We’re thinking about it holistically across all of our experiences, understanding where we kind of fit in that landscape.”